Drinking Buddies

A fun generational film about friends who work in one of the many new upstart craft beer brewery businesses seems like a swell idea for a good comedy. This isn’t it.

Luke (New Girl’s Jake Johnson) and Kate’s (Olivia Wilde) friendship is as blurry as their vision after drinking all day, every day and the tension of that type of relationship is fully realized. With the exception of how much these good looking folks drink all day, these characters seem very real. So real, they forgot to add fun. My guess is that a more comic movie would have suited this concept and group of actors better.

And by the time we get the final scene, it simply seemed like a waste of time to me. Mini hangover.

Simply put: Jeers. I thought this would be a fun night out with a beer and a movie, but it was all beers and no cheers.

Award potential:  None.

The ten buck review: Not worth ten bucks. Go get an overly priced craft beer instead.

The Butler

Lee Daniel’s The Butler tells the story of a White House butler (Forest Whitaker) who served eight American presidents over three decades. The film traces the changes that swept American society during this time, from the civil rights movement to Vietnam and beyond, and how those changes affected this man's life and family.

This is a film with its heart in the right place, but talent in all the wrong places.

Having Oprah as the butler’s wife and actors like Alan Rickman, Jane Fonda, John Cusack, James Marsden and Robin Williams play the presidents was incredibly distracting. Did I mention that Lenny Kravitz and Mariah Carey have key roles too? The Night of 100 Stars approach made this film very entertaining to watch, but it didn’t make this a good film. I never got emotionally invested in these characters.

In this film, nothing is subtle — including the images of each decade. It works in the first decade, but as the film wears on, it all gets very trivial. For example, desks in The White House literally have Rubik’s Cubes on them.

So why was half of the theater audience in tears? The creators were clever to include various heavy-handed gimmicks to manipulate audience emotion, but this also does not make it a good film.

Simply put: A light look at heavy history. I can’t recommend this as a film, but it’s an entertaining night out — and it’s hardly a bad plan to spend two hours reflecting on American history.

Award potential:  Forest Gump, I mean, Forest Whitaker, winner of the Best Actor Oscar for The Last King of Scotland, carries this movie through decades of history and he will get a nomination for Best Actor. For the record, it is amazing that a celebrity of Oprah’s stature could transform to any other role 95% percent of the time. She is likely to be nominated for Best Supporting Actress, although I predict a snub.

The ten buck review: Not worth ten bucks.

The Wolverine

In 2015, Superman will battle Batman in Warner Brothers’ untitled Superman/Batman movie. But this summer, the Wolverine beat Superman in the battle of the summer superhero movies. (Iron Man 3 was the first week of May.) Unlike The Man of Steel, the fights are interesting and don’t go on forever.

That said, Wolverine is still not a great movie. Hugh Jackman shines star power in this iconic role and the Wolverine is one of the best comic book heroes, so I’m not sure why this isn’t a better script or convincing total production. But unlike 2009′s bland X-Men Origins: Wolverine, at least they are trying.

For starters, the creators find a good location and stay there (Hurray!). And they find a look, pace and story that hints on a good niche for this character; I’d call it superhero noir.

The film is just good enough and keeps clawing it’s way out of tedium, but the first-rate train scene makes you think about the great movie that it had potential to be. If only every action scene was as thrilling and inventive as that.

Simply put: Better than the first one, and showing some promise…but still not as super as any of the entries in the Iron Man or The Dark Knight series.

Award potential:  Potential for special effects.

The ten buck review: Worth ten bucks just for the first-rate train scene. You can leave after that.

Blue Jasmine

Blue Jasmine, Woody Allen's compelling  new film, is about a woman (Cate Blanchett) on the verge of a nervous breakdown. In his 48^th film, Allen touches on hot button topics ranging from class disparity to mental disorder. And it’s a gem.

This film is good enough to end the discussion about whether Woody Allen’s work is on a downhill trajectory. It is definitely not. It’s more precisely a late career of wins and misses. And this is a solid win on par with his recent films Matchpoint and Midnight In Paris.

But enough about Allen, Blanchett’s tragic Jasmine is one of the most memorable characters on film in my lifetime. She’s in almost every captivating scene. And her film is a first-class treat.

Simply put: Woody Allen meets Tennessee Williams, featuring the Best Actress performance of 2013.

Award potential:  Such a standout that you can actually call this one in July. Golden Globe and Oscar winner for Best Actress, Cate Blanchett.

The ten buck review: Worth ten bucks.

The Way, Way Back

"This is the place where dreams are made or destroyed, depends on how you feel about working at a water park."

Owen (Sam Rockwall) is the freewheeling, charismatic owner of Water Wizz, the amusement park where 14-year old Duncan (Liam James) finds a summer job, in the coming of age story of Duncan's summer vacation with his mother, Pam (Toni Collette) and her overbearing boyfriend, Trent (Steve Carell). It’s been a long time since we’ve had such a charming film about a summer vacation.

The setup is formulaic but luckily the film, written and directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (The Descendants), is done with enough skill and delicacy that the familiarity is more comforting than limiting.

The only fault? This script, featuring a wood-paneled station wagon, a Pac Man game and references to songs by REO Speedwagon, Mr. Mister and Bonnie Tyler from the Footloose soundtrack, was obviously meant as a timepiece film — but it’s set in modern times. No one has a cell phone in the movie — and the kids get busted for not “leaving notes”. Distracting? Yes. More charming for it? You’re forgiven.

Simply put: A touching, funny and smart cross between Meatballs and Little Miss Sunshine. This is way, way the best movie of the summer.

Award potential:  Lots of Golden Globe potential for Best Movie (Comedy) and Supporting Actors noms could deservedly go to both Sam Rockwall and Allison Janney, who plays an alcoholic neighbor with just the right amount of zaniness. Wild card for Oscar Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.

The ten buck review: Worth ten bucks.

Despicable Me 2

In Despicable Me 2, Steve Carell’s Gru is a changed man. No longer a dastardly villain, he’s now domesticated. Unfortunately, Gru has also domesticated his comedy edge. Shooting for the moon isn’t near as funny as stealing it.

Enter a complex plot to get him back in the action, and another complex family subplot that aims to recreate the charm of the first film. None of Gru’s stories come together. The original Despicable Me (2010) managed to juggle the belly laughs with action and a charming family story — this does not.

Enter the Minions, the silly yellow workers who had a sub role in the first film and prime roles in 3 mini DVD movies (2010). All of their zaniness works so well that Gru’s unfocused stories don’t even matter. They alone make this a winning film.

If you have small kids, time your bathroom breaks around the meandering Gru stories, not the Minion comedy breaks.

Simply put:  Gru and the girls (who I loved the first time around) are now despicably boring, but this is really a Minion spin off. And the Minions deliver a zany good time.

Award potential: Best Animated Film and (maybe) Best Original Song nominations. It won’t win either of them.

The ten buck review: Worth ten bucks. For adults and kids.

The Heat

The plot of every buddy cop movie is simple: A pair of law enforcers is assigned together. One guy is a straight arrow and the other guy is a wheels off toughie. They clash at first but eventually become friends to get the bad guy (usually an insider). The twist in The Heat, is that the cops are both women.

So, hurray, it has been achieved: a formula buddy comedy with women can be just as underachieving, unoriginal and boorish as one with men.

Director Paul Feig explored contrasting issues like female camaraderie and female competitiveness so winningly funny in Bridesmaids. But this is just a throwaway. The good news is that the fearless duo of Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock are hilarious in all the small bits. The bad news is that the film is almost two hours long.

Simply put: Not so hot. A few laughs from McCarthy.

Award potential: Feig directed McCarthy to an Oscar nomination with Bridesmaids. No chance for a comic nod for this slight film. Not even at the Globes.

The ten buck review: Not worth ten bucks. Unless you think it’s worth ten bucks to see Sandra Bullock shoot a peanut out of her nose.